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Episode 15: The Guzzler, Olympics & Missing Luggage
339 Plays2 months ago
Welcome to Episode 15 of Peak Pursuits, your ultimate podcast for everything trail running in Australia. This week’s episode is hosted by Brodie Nankervis, Vlad Ixel, and Jess Jason, bringing you training updates, listener questions, trail fails, race results, and upcoming events.
Start - 35:20 :- Training Week Updates
We start things off with a rundown of our training weeks. Jess gives the details of one of her biggest weeks in a while, gaining some confidence for the Hounslow Marathon. Vlad shares another week of racing and balancing running a business, and discusses how he plans to adapt his training for longer races later in the year. Brodie provides the long-overdue recap of his races at the Orienteering World Championships, highlighting some key learnings he took away from the experience.
35:20 - 48:45 :- Listener Question
Next, we dive into a listener question from Nic Errol as we weigh in on whether trail running should be a sport in the Olympic Games. Our hosts share their perspectives and discuss the potential impact on the sport.
48:45 - 52:15 :- Trail Fails Segment
In this week’s Trail Fails segment, Brodie shares what can go wrong when your luggage goes missing while traveling for trail running. Learn from his experience and get some tips on how to avoid similar pitfalls.
52:15 - 1:01:15 :- Weekend Race Results
We then run through the domestic results for the week, including:
- The Guzzler: https://www.theguzzlerultra.com.au/results-photos/
- Yaberoo Trail Ultra: https://my.raceresult.com/299791/results#0_D339A1
- Boyne Valley 50: https://www.webscorer.com/racealldetails?raceid=359124&topn=3
1:01:15 - End :- Upcoming Trail Races
Lastly, we highlight the upcoming trail races and what to look out for in the next week. Stay tuned for more exciting events and opportunities to hit the trails.
Thanks for tuning in to Peak Pursuits! Connect with us on Instagram @peakpursuits.pod to share your thoughts, questions, and your own trail stories. Until next time, keep hitting the trails and chasing those peak pursuits!
Vlad: @vladixel
Brodie: @brodie_nank
Jess: @jessjason
Music from #Uppbeat (free for Creators!): https://uppbeat.io/t/mood-maze/trendsetter
License code: K08PMQ3RATCE215R
Transcript
00:00:07
Speaker
Hello and welcome to the Peak Pursuits Podcast. This is Brody Nankervis and we're here for episode 15 and we're coming to you live from a few different countries. So I'm in Bulgaria and we've got Vlad in Germany, I believe. And Vlad, you've just ah come off the back of another race where you want some food? Yeah, I'm in Germany. Did a race, yeah, two days ago. And yeah, again, two bags of pasta. So at least, yeah, my hard work pays off with making sure that um I'm getting fed post-racist. Yeah, fantastic. You're getting fueled for the next one. That's great. Yeah, exactly. Sorry. Yeah, exactly. They're making sure that I have enough fuel for the next one.
00:00:48
Speaker
Yeah, yeah. And we've got Jess ah holding down the fort still in WA. How are you going Jess? You come off a big week of training? Yeah, I'm tired. I feel like Monday you always, you really feel like that long run in the legs and yeah, but um body's feeling good so I'm happy. Fantastic. That's great. Well, we've got maybe a slightly shorter episode, but it's going to be interesting. Lots of things to go over. We'll cover some training weeks. I'll do a short recap of World Champs. We've got a good listener question and a couple of local results to cover as well. So yeah, to stick with us and um should be good. We might ah hear about your training week first, Jess.
00:01:28
Speaker
Yeah, for sure. um So I had a pretty big week, biggest one for a while. So I'm gearing up for Hounslow, which is on the eighth of ah the seventh of September. um So it's coming up pretty soon. um So Monday was a rest day, um just my usual lighter gym session. Tuesday, I had a morning easy jog, just 30 minutes, and then track in the afternoon. um And this was actually quite a long and tough track session. um Sort of one of the staple ones that the front honor crew does. um And it's two by um sort of descending reps. So it starts with a 1600.
00:02:18
Speaker
And then you get two minutes rest, and then you do a 1200, and then you get 90 seconds or rest, um and then you do an 800, and then you get a minute rest, and then you do a 400, and then you do a lap jog, and then you go back up. So starting from the 400, going up to the 1600 with increasing rest that time. um But because that is quite a lot of rest for a front runner session, the paces were pretty hot. So I think I was sitting around like three twenties for the longer reps and got down to like three tens. So um yeah, I was pretty happy with that. It's only like my third.
00:03:01
Speaker
Track session in a couple of months so I feel like yeah, it's nice when the speed sort of just naturally comes back to the legs but um Yeah, it was quite a lot of volume on the track So the next day my calves were pretty sore but still got through a midweek long run um just 15k through bold part um And then Thursday was just a 15-minute easy jog, tried to stay on the grass um just to really like recover the legs. um And then Friday was the second session of the week, so this was another one of the longer kind of tempos that I've been doing as part of this little marathon training block.
00:03:42
Speaker
So it was still 50 minutes of tempo volume, which is what I've been doing. um But this time the reps were kind of like slightly different. So I did four by 11 minutes of tempo with 90 seconds float in between um and this is all like sort of over gradual rolling heels so it's kind of like you go by effort. um So I think the tempos are usually around like 350 to four minute pace in the float so like four tens to four twenties or so. um
00:04:20
Speaker
Yeah, I was pretty happy with that. Knocked off another one. It feels pretty comfortable. It's a big session. Yeah, I think I really love those sort of sessions especially. I would definitely still do a session like that if I was training for a road marathon. I feel like they get you super strong. And you don't get too cooked from them because the pace is sort of staying controlled. um Yeah, I really enjoy like incorporating those into like bigger training blocks. What's the surface like around the park there? I'm pretty much just on the road or the footpath. so it's Yeah, it's just like gravel. yeah Looks like a nice spot to do a session.
00:05:00
Speaker
Yeah, it's pretty cool actually, you get like views of the city at some sections and um yeah it's nice and green at the moment. and nice um yeah Saturday I just had another easy jog, so just 15k. And then Sunday I did a pretty big long run, biggest one I've done in a while. so 31K with 1,200 meters of gain, um three hours on feet. um That was like a little loop that I made from Les Merti into Kalamunda and then around Helena and back. um So over some trials that I'm sure Vlad's pretty familiar with. um But yeah, just trying to sort of pick all the little technical mountain bike tracks through there just to practice that more um technical running that I'll probably get at Hanzo.
00:05:50
Speaker
um and trying to get as much climbing as I can. um And yeah, it was really pretty out there. like It was pretty much raining the whole time I was out, but ah the waterfall out at Les Modie actually had water in it for the first time that I've been out there, so it was cool to see that. Yeah, so pretty big week for me. I think I finished with 117k and 2000 something meters of elevation gain, which is yeah quite a look lot more than what I've done in the previous week. so Yeah, good science. Does that give you some like confidence towards Hounslow that you're like in like you can you can sort of put in a good performance there? Because like it looks pretty good at this stage.
00:06:29
Speaker
yeah Yeah, it gave me a lot more confidence um than what I've been doing in the past. like um yeah like I was pretty cooked by the end of that 31k. I could tell that my legs weren't used to it, but I feel like by the time Hanzo comes around, like I should be able to get through the 44k as long as like I don't sort of cook myself in the first half and save enough for the last climbs in the race. Definitely. And you're not usually going into a race with like a speedy track session and a 20K session on the Friday. Yeah. Yeah, exactly. Different feeling. Yeah. Fantastic. I'm keen to see you keep building. It looks good. All right. And Vlad, you've been in another race. It seems this is old news that you just race every weekend. So yeah, tell us about this one though. It looked cool.
00:07:16
Speaker
Yeah, I did IGA Ultra Trail, the UTMB race in Grindelwald. Another incredible, incredible, beautifully to but beautiful town in Switzerland. I was going to say super expensive as well, but everything is in Switzerland. um so we've got like Our accommodation didn't really go through. There were some cancellations and we couldn't find like accommodation in Grindelwald. There were some for like $600 a night. That was like the cheapest. So we ended up getting Accommodation in a small town called wagon, which is a no car little town So you can only get there with a train so we have to park our car
00:07:57
Speaker
get a train and then walk to our ah kind of hostel, um which was another 2K walk. So that was an ideal kind of leading up to the Expo and the and the race itself, um but still beautiful locations. You've got to go, yeah, this is not fun, but the views are worth it. So I did manage to do a couple of easy runs this week. I did race last week. It's a bit hard when you kind of race and you still want to keep the volume up. So I've been trying to do on, say if I'm racing on Saturday, try and do an easy run on Sunday and then Monday kind of have my long run. So this week I did a two hour 20 long run on Monday um and then some easy running for the rest of the week, except one quick session of 10 times one minute on one minute off.
00:08:47
Speaker
just to kind of get some faster leg turnover. But yeah, after having not the best race last week in um in Austria, I wanted to make sure that I played it a bit safer. So this race was 16k with about 900 meters of elevation gain, pretty much go up and then come back down. um So I was climbing pretty much in third place the whole way. I was trying to keep keep an eye on my heart rate that I'm not overdoing yet. I probably could have pushed a little bit harder, but I made it to the top together with second place was Marcel from the Adidas team. So we were running together for a K or two, and then there was a 5K big downhill towards the end where he we just managed to put a bit of a gap on me. I think he managed to put maybe like 30 seconds in those 5K.
00:09:39
Speaker
And then first place was about 50 seconds in front of me so we're all top three we're all within 50 seconds of each other but yeah I was just happy to have like a race where things went right um yeah last week was It was definitely not a fun race, so this time managed to get it done. Again, the day before was a full day at the expo, and he managed to do like an easy 20-minute jog, I think probably at 8 o'clock at night, um because the day was so busy. and Then, straight away, the next day, we had to pack everything, and we drove to Germany, so I'm in Germany right now. I'm going to try and get some running in before um another 16km with 1,000 meters of gain.
00:10:25
Speaker
this weekend. So yeah, it's definitely a busy schedule. And I'm starting to feel it. I'm also starting to feel the fact that I'm not getting as much volume as I'm used to. So I feel like I am getting stronger on the trails with my uphill and my downhill running. But then kind of the last I guess I've been in Europe for 10 weeks, eight weeks, you know, I'm starting to feel like I'm losing a bit of that strength. I don't know if that makes sense. But Yeah. yeah you know Yeah. Yeah. Like it's a kind of a weird feeling. You've been in a competitive period, I guess, for six weeks now. So it's hard to sort of hold on to that sort of base, base level fitness when you're just racing and then recovering, trying to fit in some small sessions and stuff. So yeah, exactly. like Yeah. A few months ago back in Australia when I was, you know, kind of running for 12 hours a week, I was feeling a lot stronger in many ways than what I am right now.
00:11:21
Speaker
um But yeah, I mean, I only got 8 hours of running this week, 8 hours and 20 minutes, 82K with 3,700 meters of gain. So not a small week, of course, but I think when you're kind of used to about 12 hours of training, 8 just feels, yeah, not much. And yeah, I guess the last 8 weeks have all been around 8 hours. So I'm kind of yeah starting to might start searching for some longer runs in between the races cause also if I'm planning to do some like longer races later on the year.
00:11:55
Speaker
I probably can't leave it too late in that strength building volume um stuff that's needed for that. So yeah, I'm kind of in two minds as well. that like I'm about to go for a run after this and I don't know if I should do two hours or maybe I should try and push it to two and a half or two hours 40 to try and get a proper long run. But then again, you know I'm racing. Um, on Saturday, so yeah, kind of caught in between, um, building that base and keeping that fitness up and not overdoing it for before racing. Are you still, um, fitting in like any gym sessions while you're away?
00:12:32
Speaker
I do very basic gym sessions, so like a lot of like home stuff, like probably 15 minutes a day of like a little bit of core, a little bit more mobility. Not as much as I usually do, but just enough to kind of keep the body, I guess, injury free. And the hardest part about this trip is definitely all the driving. like you know We did a five and a half hour drive yesterday together with the trains ride that we had to do. That's kind of like a seven hour trip. um So that's definitely not helping all the sitting down and stuff like that. So I am feeling weaker. But then again, like my downhill running is super strong. And in many ways, my technical running is so much better than when I was in Australia. so
00:13:15
Speaker
Yeah, it's kind of a weird, I wish, yeah, I wish I had probably more time between races that I could actually like put in a bit more training. But yeah, then I don't get like the full benefits of the marketing of, you know, doing an expo and then racing it for bigs. So yeah, it's, it's ah yeah, I mean, obviously, I'm lucky to be in this position, but always kind of like thinking about it from the other side, maybe I'm doing too much. I don't know. I was, I did the same thing last year and I was actually really fit after that trip. Um, but yeah, maybe this, this year is a bit different as I'm getting older or maybe it was just a bit more work. Yeah. It'd be interesting to see how it, how it pays off. Like, I guess like you haven't had a true, you haven't had a true test of how you can race at the moment because every race you're going into.
00:14:04
Speaker
in the middle of work driving, like you haven't fully, you haven't tapered for anything. So it's it's hard to sort of gauge where you're at. And I imagine that's difficult to sort of figure out. It's probably playing on your mind a little bit. Yeah, I feel like right now it's definitely, I'm definitely kind of thinking about it more than before. But then again, like I only have five weeks left. So, you know, it's not that much, but then like, I'm at the point where I'm starting to think, all right, well, what's going to happen in what races I'm doing in October, November, December. And if some of them are a bit longer, like I can't just cram in some long runs, you know, two or three weeks before I need that volume now. So i that's probably what's been on my mind a little bit. um But yeah, um I mean, I'm still still kind of happy to race and it's still fun to race, right? So yeah a problem to have yeah, I mean, yeah, if I was a professional runner without this whole expo trip that we're doing with all those expos, I would definitely not plan
00:15:02
Speaker
this trip like that, I would rather do it two or three races in 12 weeks and, and really focus on them. But, um, yeah, I just got to remind myself that it's not all about my running, which is hard sometimes because you want to be competitive and you want to do well in, in other races, but yeah, that's probably should stop complaining now. Yeah. Yeah, I mean, I've been following you and Strava Brody. You want to tell us a little bit ah about your week and how the World Champs went the other week? Yeah, definitely. So um yeah, I think you guys briefly mentioned last week I was at at World Champs last weekend when you were recording. um So yeah, it was it was good. Like overall, I think
00:15:46
Speaker
I really surprised myself a little bit um on how I performed. Big positive takeaways from from the races. so yeah That was a good feeling to have. I am ran the individual race on Friday um and I've run this discipline Uh, three times before in 2015, 27 in 2018. Um, and there's a qualification race and then a final. Um, so you have to be in the top 15 in your qualification to make it to the final and I never qualified. So that was sort of like a bit of a chip on my shoulder and, um, something that I was, I guess, quite worried about not achieving because I didn't want to put all this effort into the orienteering this year. Um, I've been splitting my time a little bit between orienteering and trail running.
00:16:34
Speaker
and then and they're not perform. So yeah, I guess I'd put all my focus into that qualification race. And turns out that I'm actually probably a bit better than I was in 2018. And I surprised myself a little bit and came forth in my heat, which was pretty crazy for me. Like I probably have no business being fourth, but I just had such a great race, um physically felt good. ah Technically, it was really good and and was super prepared for that specific race and it sort of showed. um So yeah, that was awesome feedback. We had another Aussie guy who also came fourth in his heat and one of the girls came ninth. So we had three qualify, which is quite good for Australia. yeah um And then the final
00:17:19
Speaker
was in the afternoon and we had, we were racing around the Edinburgh Old Town, which was pretty special. um Because I'd qualified so well, I was starting quite late. um So it's like a reverse start order. um So I was starting with a lot of like the best guys, which was, I wasn't, I didn't, can't say I felt intimidated, but I felt like out of place. I didn't really feel like I should be there. um I'm not sure how much that affected my race. I think there's a whole heap of different factors that affected my performance in the afternoon, but essentially I just didn't run very well. Um, probably had my worst race of the season in the final. Um, but like I was still happy when I finished. So I came 41st out of 45. Um, I think 40 only I beat one person that finished. There was three people that sort of got disqualified. Um,
00:18:12
Speaker
which is pretty common that there's two or three people that get disqualified um because they miss a control or they punch the wrong control or something like that. um So yeah, it wasn't the result I was looking for in the afternoon, um but I was pretty happy to have that experience. And and yeah yeah, I guess there's a lot I can take away for next time. If I have another go in 2026, it's that I can make it to the final and I belong in the final and I can maybe put a little less mental and emotional focus on the qualification and say see what happens. But um yeah, I guess, yeah, I was still happy. and And one of the Aussies, Henry, who was the other guy who qualified, he came ninth and two of the Kiwis came sixth and seventh. So it was a pretty good day for Oceana. um And yeah, we were pretty happy with the day.
00:19:06
Speaker
um So yeah, then I ran again on Sunday in the sprint relay, which is like four people running, ah see female, male, male, female. I ran second leg. And yeah, we had a okay start, but maybe not exactly where we were hoping to be. We came in, in I think 27th on first leg. So I went out, I'm not sure how far behind, maybe a minute 40 or something like that. um And I had a fairly decent run, but we were sort of a bit,
00:19:38
Speaker
too far out maybe by that stage to sort of pull back. We sort of like as if we're going to have success, we need to try and be in it for as long as we can. I guess from the start, we don't have the ability to sort of rein it back in. Um, so yeah, I had a decent run. I was pretty happy with it. Um, I took the team from 27 to 17th. I got to have like the glory run because there's a lot of teams on first leg that have quite good runners, but then maybe their subsequent runners are not as good. So I got to sort of try and pass as many teams as I could and ah put us out in 17th on third leg. And I think we we ended up coming 15th, but I think it was due to two disqualifications. So we stayed in a roughly same position for the rest of the race. um But as a team, we're still happy. I think we can do
00:20:25
Speaker
we can do better and we would have been, we were striving for closer to 10th, but it's still better than where we've been in some other years. So um we were still pleased. It was still a ah good result. um And I guess we're all sort of wanting to do more. So yeah, that was my chance finish. There was one more race on the Tuesday, but I didn't race. I just got to spectate that race, which was pretty fun. um But yeah, overall it was good. And yeah, I'm, pretty content with ah the last six months of the preparation and how it panned out and the three weeks of preparation leading into the champs, I think really helped. So yeah, a positive experience overall, really. Yeah, that's awesome. I'm so glad to hear that you're like really happy with um like making the final and it's given you more confidence for next time. um Would you say like what you would do different next time is just save a bit more energy for the final?
00:21:23
Speaker
Yeah, I think so. Like ah it's strange because then on the on the start line, I didn't feel physically bad and I didn't feel frazzled. And I didn't feel like I also didn't feel spent or like not focused. I felt good, I would have thought. um But I just think preparation, I just put everything into the quoll. There's a big portion of preparation in orienteering in terms of like looking at the maps and preparing our own maps and setting courses. And I'd done a little bit for the final and I thought I knew the area relatively well, but just haven't done as much. But I think more importantly was like, and it's really hard to put your finger on it, but the emotional ah energy around, uh, like I, I nearly got brought to tears when I got through.
00:22:09
Speaker
in the morning, because that was where my goals were. And I was so focused on that. And I was, I was like, what the hell I came forth, like, it was just crazy. I've beaten some people that I never would have thought I could beat. Obviously, they're focusing on the final. But like, yeah, I was, I think the emotional component must have been massive. And and it's hard to, I think it's hard to put that into some sort of metric. um And then it was probably a few things in the final, like I I lost my focus midway, my Achilles wasn't good as good because it was a second race and it had had like a four hour gap to sort of become a little bit grumpy. And yeah, it was probably just several factors that added up. um But yeah, I wouldn't change it at this stage. I still think I did the right thing in terms of focusing on the quill because I ah didn't have that experience of knowing that I could make it and make it relatively easily.
00:22:59
Speaker
um So next time, and it sort of spurred me onto think about it next time. I thought this might be the last sort of urban world champs I try and do, um yeah but i'm I'm not quite satisfied with 41st. I'm not a top 10 runner, I don't think, but i would I would like to try and sort of get top 30, top 20 even if ah if I can and and sort of just push my own personal best a little higher um because I think I've got more to give i think ah yeah based off this experience. ah yeah I guess it's a positive. and How many um qualified from H8 for the final?
00:23:33
Speaker
15. So it was like nine places in and I think I had maybe 30 seconds to spare. So the window to qualify I think was like 50, maybe 56, 57. And I ran, I was like 27 seconds behind the winner. ah So maybe what's that? Yeah, it's about just under 30 seconds. um So I had definitely had space there. It wasn't like I was sort of expecting if I did qualify, I would have come 13th or 14th or 15th, and I thought I'd just be sneaking in. I thought I could qualify. I was pretty certain I could, but I wasn't, uh, I wasn't sure. And I also thought I'd be just qualifying. So yeah, it sort of gave me the confidence that everyone's under the pump in the quill and you just have to have a decent run, not a, you don't have to go crazy. And I'm a bit better than I was back when I was a bit younger. So it's been, yeah, it was six years between world champs. So obviously I'm a different runner than I was then. And it was hard to put that into perspective.
00:24:31
Speaker
Yeah, it must be hard like not went knowing where you are. like do you know that Did you know you were coming forth like in the heat or you sort of don't really know? No, and I'm sprinting to the finish line because again, I think maybe I'm racing for 14th, 15th and someone was like, why are you sprinting so fast? You had a good run and I was like, I wasn't convinced I wasn't convinced i was in until Uh, and when I came in, I was leading and I started like 12th. So I was like, like, as in I started, I was the 12th start. And when I came in, I was leading and I knew there was a couple of good guys in front of me. Like one of my friends from Great Britain started in front of me and I was like, I'm not going to beat him, but I'd beaten him by like a second or something. And when I finished in first, I was like, Oh, I'm going to make it. And it was like, yeah, it was very crazy feeling.
00:25:17
Speaker
Yeah, well done. That's a. really great result. Do you mind telling us a little bit about Bulgaria? Because Bulgaria is not like... I guess it's got like it's got the potential to be a ah really cool place for trail running, but there's there aren't too many races. There's obviously that one sky race that is pretty famous, um but tell us what you're doing in Bulgaria. How has your week been so far? Yeah, so I've ah come off World Champs. are Obviously they finished on Sunday for me and and just jogged a few days and then I've flown to Bulgaria and um back into trail mode. I guess the rest of the year for me is fully trail focused. And I'm guiding on a find your feet trail running tour, which is in Bulgaria. And I did this one last year as well. um So I'm sort of repeating the same tour, but it's just crazy. The mountains here,
00:26:07
Speaker
are hectic, and they're so cool. um And they're literally like, I think they're cooler than like, like they're comparable or as cool as many places in the Alps. And I think it's like such an untouched gem here for like trail runners, like I sort of middle encourage people to think about it in future to like potentially come to Bulgaria and try it out because it's just yeah, it's very cool. um And I think I think we should also just sorry, I think we just also should mention that Bulgaria is like the cheapest country in Europe. um So after spending like few weeks myself in Switzerland, um actually thinking about Bulgaria for next year could be a good option where um your money goes a lot longer. And yeah, if you can get similar trail running experiences,
00:26:54
Speaker
um Definitely. i yeah Definitely. and And the mountains here are big. So the biggest mountain in Bulgaria, um we summited the other day is called Musala, which is a cool name for a mountain as well. But um it's the biggest mountain on the Balkan Peninsula. So all of the the countries like Greece and Albania, Montenegro, Croatia, Romania, that's the Balkan Peninsula. It's the biggest mountain there. And I think many of the other mountains are also like the next biggest. So it's 2000. 920 and we climbed another one yesterday that was and two yesterday that were over 2,900. So there's, yeah, they're big they're big mountains as well. um Maybe not quite as big as some of the ones in the Alps, but um yeah, they're pretty special. and And the terrain is also very variable. So this specific tour that we're doing, we actually move each day and and take in a different mountain range, which is really cool. We're running point to point.
00:27:53
Speaker
ah the bus driver drops us at the start of the run and we run over the mountain range pretty much and get picked up on the other side um and sometimes we're like the runs have been pretty long um so we've been doing say six hours but the drivers had to drive like two and a half hours around the mountain range to pick us up at the other end so it's it's a pretty cool way to experience like this particular tour, but it's a pretty cool way to experience the mountains and I'm pretty lucky to be able to do it um as a guide. um But yeah, the mountain I definitely would recommend and and there is a lot of little races. Our guide on this, we have a Bulgarian guide as well as me being sort of the company's guide.
00:28:32
Speaker
um He is an absolute legend. He's actually got the unofficial world record for ah the fastest time to ascend 100,000 vertical meters. He did it in 17 days um here in Bulgaria um and he was doing like 14 hour days just running up and down ah one of the steepest parts where he could get the most vert and then sleeping in a hut and then doing it again for 17 days. So it's pretty crazy. but he
00:29:05
Speaker
He's done all these crazy FKTs of like 250Ks in Bulgaria and he he loves it here. and he and And there is actually a few races. Like the one you were talking about is probably the most well-known. I think you were talking about the Pirin Extreme. That race is crazy. We ran on some of the route yesterday and there's like a section across this ridge line that drops away on one side. like maybe 200 meters, or it probably drops all the way down like 800 meters, but it's the percent on one side is maybe be like 40%. And on the other side, it's like a sheer cliff dropping like 500 meters, and there's this metal metal rope going across the middle of it, and that's in the race. So it's like it's pretty it's it's very much sky running. um and and And our guide, Kelly-Ann, was telling me that that's not the most sketchy part of the race. There's another part that they go up before that.
00:29:58
Speaker
um that's a bit sketchier because it's pretty much the same without the rope so yeah that race is crazy but they've got a lot of I think they they enjoy trail running and being in the mountains quite a bit so they've got a lot of like local races um there's one that I was actually thinking of trying to go to next week which the guides going to but it's like a four-hour drive for me so it's not worth it but it's 13K with 1650 meters of climb. So it's literally just climbing and then just sit like it's just super, it's like VK climbing and VK descending in a race of 13K. So it's, yeah, it's pretty cool. As you can tell, I'm pretty, I'm pretty big advocate of running in Bulgaria.
00:30:41
Speaker
Can you tell us a little bit about the tour? Because I think like i' um I've never heard about that tour. Obviously, I know the show. But can you tell us a little bit about the logistics of the tour? How many people are doing it? How can people find out more about it for next year, maybe? Yeah, definitely. um So find your feet like an outdoor a company or shop that are in Hobart. um And they also, I think since pretty much the beginning of them existing as a as a shop, they've also run these trail running tours in various locations across Europe. um And this one in Bulgaria started last year, actually, we ran it for the first time. um And this year we're repeating the same tour.
00:31:25
Speaker
um with new guests, obviously. um So yeah, it's pretty cool. this this particular they They do vary a bit. This one is marketed as sort of intermediate to an advance because you do we do long days and they're pretty tough routes. So we've done, I think the biggest day so far was 28K with 1,800 meters of climb and 1,600 meters of descent or something like that. So these ones in particular are quite tough. um and this guy But this tour is quite special in terms of it's like a point to point. As I was saying, like we run
00:31:59
Speaker
we get dropped at the start of the mountain range essentially and run over it. um And it was designed actually by the Bulgarian guide that's helping on the tour. He sort of designed all the routes and and we're taking in five of the mountain ranges that are relatively close to the capital, Sophia, but we're sort of moving throughout the sort of, I guess it's the west of the country or southwest of the country. um But yeah, if you're keen to have a look, I'm not sure. I don't think it's confirmed whether this specific tour is running again next year. um There's one in Chamonix that runs pretty much every year. It's very popular. um That one usually sells out. ah But I do know there's one in Albania that they've run before and it was really popular. And their host, they're doing that one again next year. And two of the guests on my Bulgaria tour last year did the Albania one and they said it was amazing.
00:32:50
Speaker
ay um That could be one to have a look at um I think usually it's up to about twelve guests on this one's actually small we've only got four so it's um it's quite good because we can um share the yeah we we can sort of split up the group a little bit but um sort of it's an easier group for us to manage and and let people sort of go at their own pace and stuff so yeah it's quite cool. That's really cool. Yeah, I mean, when I was in Chamonix a few weeks ago, there was a lot a lot of tours of doing the loop around Mount Blanc, like I think that's an exploding segment, um where people are just want to do the whole lap and you know, there's different paces, different groups. But yeah, I think some of those untouched but like, you know, Chamonix is also not cheap, right? Like you do a trip to Chamonix, it's a pretty expensive investment where you can go to countries, I guess, like Albania or
00:33:42
Speaker
or Bulgaria where you get some beautiful trails and beautiful mountains for probably half of the price. Yeah, yeah. And the people here also like the Bulgarians are like some of the friendliest people I've ever met. It's just amazing like they're so... such sort of like gracious people like their English is most of them speak a little bit of English but not everyone but they're just such friendly people and our guide is he's really funny like he'll talk to everyone like I was sort of mentioning yesterday to like one of the guests like we're on top of this we're on this mountain ridge and
00:34:14
Speaker
We run into these people hiking and and he just stops and talks to them for like 15 minutes while we had a break. um And he's just like, he doesn't know them. He's just having a chat and they're just like super friendly people. So it's yeah, it's an amazing country and I would recommend whether you're doing a tour or whether you come here and do it yourself. it's um yeah It's definitely worth putting on your list. I think another like a bit of untouched area is that Georgia as well. um ah like around Azerbaijan and Georgia, Armenia, because this is like a bit lower, so um that's a bit closer to the Black Sea, a little bit off Europe. But that could also be an interesting place for some trail running because I feel like they would have some beautiful, beautiful mountains um as well. Yeah, I think I've heard of one there.
00:35:01
Speaker
like a longer trail in Georgia, like a FKT-type trail that ah I've heard of in the past. That sounds pretty cool. I think I watched like a little doco on it once. Yeah, that'd be a cool place to travel. Yeah, nice. Anyway, I've got a few more days of this. I'm looking forward to it. But um we might see you here a little bit more next week, no doubt. um But I will Yeah, we'll move move on to, um we've got a good listener question this week. um So this one comes in from Nick Errol. So thanks, Nick. um And it's ah it was more of a comment, but I'll form it into a bit of a question. So Nick's interested to know what our our opinions are on ah trail running, making it into the Olympics and what the pros and cons of that would be, um because I think there's a little bit of,
00:35:50
Speaker
I know that the ultra or at least some people within ultra are looking at Brisbane and I think ah maybe Itro is looking generally at it for the future. um What do you guys think? What do you think? vlad like what's ah Is this a good thing? Is it a bad thing? Should we be in the Olympics? Should we leave the Olympics alone? Yeah, I mean i think it's a tough question because obviously trail running is one of the fastest growing sports in the world. um And there's so many races today. You go on the ITRA website, you have a look at how many races, how many registered runners there are that technically I think
00:36:26
Speaker
It should be just because it's pretty popular. I guess obviously there will come some downside ah good downsides to it as well. um Personally, personally, I think it would be good for the sport because I'm looking at it from the point of view that young runners might have another pathway um to a life of an, I guess, a professional athlete. And, you know, maybe a pathway that I would have wished was there, you know, 10 years ago. um I think that they will create cool pathways for people that are not fully suited for road and track running, which is very specific body type and kind of set of abilities where trail running is a bit more different. So I think it will create a nice pathway for people.
00:37:13
Speaker
um to To follow that ah as a full time job obviously it is create it is kind of is there ready with sponsorships but once the government is gonna get involved is gonna make it a bit more official probably some pathway. um Programs towards it through schools for universities which will just make it a bit better obviously the downside of it would be. that I think that Greg from Salomon and Golden Trail talked a little bit about in in the past is that they will have to make it a bit more spectator friendly. So that means that you know some trail running events might not be point to point. They might be on a 5K or a 10K loop or a 3K loop, um which would make it a bit more spectator friendly. I don't think that's like a really bad thing if like most of the year you're racing on really cool trails and then once or twice a year,
00:38:04
Speaker
you do more of a 2k or a 3k loop kind of a race, I guess, similar to to cross country, I think it'd be pretty cool. um And the little another downside is, you know, there'll probably be more drugs in the sport, more doping, which, you know, comes when there's more money and stuff like that. But yeah, I think personally, I think it it will be a good thing for the sport. I think it'll make the sport a bit more legit, a bit you know maybe trail runners, we get a bit more respect from road runners and track runners. um But yeah, what do you think Jess? Yeah, I think it's um it's a really cool idea and it'd be interesting to see like whether they follow the same kind of format as World Champs like with the longer sort of runs being the trail runs and then having like the shorter kind of mountain ones, which I guess would be um the ones that would follow those shorter loops because I would imagine it like
00:38:59
Speaker
the short and long trail would be sort of similar to the road marathon um in the Olympics, which I guess most of the time they do do loops in that as well. um Yeah, so I think logistically it would be like pretty hard um to find like the suitable locations as well. um Yeah, thinking about Paris, like where would they Yeah, but I mean, they can always do it like outside the city. So like surfing is, you know, like obviously surfing is not in Paris. Yeah, that's true. That's on one of the coasts in France. And I mean, they do it all the time where some sports are in, you know, in different places. And I think to be honest, like seeing where the Olympics is heading towards
00:39:42
Speaker
they would have to be a bit more flexible that not all the events are in one city. I think they'll putting on ah o Olympics right now is a super expensive exercise and not a lot of cities want to take on that cost of putting on ah an Olympic event. So I think Olympics might go from more of a city event to a country event where countries don't have to invest billions of dollars in infrastructure. So I think naturally we'll see Olympic games being a bit more spread out throughou throughout the country. um So I think I don't think that would be the problem. I just yeah, I think that there hopefully not too many other races are affected by the fact that you know, like, let's say the Australian champs is going to be in a 4k loop or a 3k loop, but
00:40:29
Speaker
Yeah, i think I think there'll always be a balance, like you know like triathlon ride, there's the long end. Because i I personally think if that if trail running does make it to the Olympic, they might only start with one distance, which could be you know kind of a two to four hour race. It probably even can't be four hours because it's a bit too long. So I think something that if it is going to make it to the Olympics, you will have to be a ah spectator, friendly, length of time. So maybe it's around the two hour mark. So that means that the trail race might only be 20 or 30 k long, depending obviously on elevation and and terrain. um But yeah, I think again, like, there would always be UTMB races or be sky running races, no matter what happens. So I think there will always be an opportunity. It just I feel like if it does make it to the Olympic, it will bring in more elite runners in general, um which might
00:41:27
Speaker
trickle down to more general public doing more trail running. So some other events will benefit from that as well, like UTMB longer events where um but some people might enjoy doing a, you know, a destination race, like a lot of the UTMB races or a sky race, which is, you know, a bit more specific. um But yeah yeah, it is a tough one. The other cool thing yeah is from what you touched on before, like the government support, so Um, yeah, cause I work at waste, like, um, it'd be cool to see all the sort of top trail runners around Australia getting that support, um, from their like state body. So they'd get like gym access, they'd get access to like physios, psychologists, nutritionists, um, wellness coaches, like everything you can think of. So, um, yeah, it would be just awesome to see trail athletes, um, getting that support as well.
00:42:22
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, I think coming back to that point, Matthew Remson in Perth is like, you should really apply for that, you know, waste sponsorship where you can use the gyms and stuff. It's not much of a sponsorship, like they let you use the gym and stuff like that. I put in an application. I think that was after Thailand World Champs where I finished 31st and didn't even get a reply where and obviously any other sport, like if I was a sprinter or anything like that, that would have welcomed me, but they wouldn't even let me use the gym for free. It's because they only focus on Olympic sports, um unfortunately. yeah So that would be like, yeah, again, that's a small thing and that will affect not very too many runners. But I think generally,
00:43:07
Speaker
When there's more people doing the sport, there'll be better quality events. And maybe some people don't want that. Like, you know, maybe some people do enjoy the very laid back. trail races that they've been doing for years. But like you know I've obviously done a couple of UTMB races. And those events are well organized. They're pretty cool. The only thing that comes is that they're probably a little bit too commercial. So you get too many emails. You get too many advertisements. So maybe there'll be like a middle ground where events are ah pretty professional, well organized, um without that marketing sense behind it. But yeah, what do you think, Brody?
00:43:51
Speaker
Yeah, like I think you guys have pretty much covered it all. Like I think the we're already moving in the right direction to be in the Olympics, whether that's purposeful or whether it's also linked with goals to just become more visible. But like, for example, Golden Trail with their like flower design where they loop back through the through the finish, they've done that at a few races and that's, I imagine, one of the options if it was at the Olympics. And I think like you can do that in many places. If you even think of Brisbane, there's no reason why you can't do that ah at like Mount Koota, set up some sort of flower thing where they do different loops and they don't even necessarily have to do the same loop, but that they're coming back through the same start-finish area where spectators can be.
00:44:42
Speaker
um So I think it like it's definitely possible. And I guess in Australia you can see or or broadly as well with like the coming underworld athletics, it seems to be paving the way that trail running maybe becomes a discipline of athletics and it's one of the athletic events. I guess that's how it would fit into the picture. um So yeah, to me, it sort of feels like it it's possible and it maybe is on the horizon. And like you said, there is a few downsides but overall I think it'd be mostly positive for the growth of the sport um and yeah professionalizing the sport and becoming maybe slightly less commercial like you're mentioning there.
00:45:22
Speaker
um And I think it also like, it'd be cool to watch Australians racing yeah in trail running at the Olympics. Like that'd be so cool. Just like, and I think a lot of people, not just me, like obviously I would aspire to be an Olympian, but it might happen after my time, but I'd be very keen to see people racing. It would be so cool to sort of cheer on trail runners of ah a sport that you do. um So I guess any trail runner can look forward to that sort of thing. Yeah. I think that kind of like. You know, like let's say like looking at the Olympics right now that they brought up brought in break dancing I think like that's a cool sport, but I think
00:45:58
Speaker
watching a sport that you do on a regular basis, that you race, is pretty fun as well. Like, because you might know some of the people, you follow it, you understand it, do you understand that different aspects of uphill, running downhill, running nutrition, and so on. So I reckon it will be cool. I think, yeah, I mean, I think some of us would have known that Brisbane is pushing for it, which is eight years away. um So maybe a little bit pass out of time. But and I think obviously, like, don't forget that if if it will become an Olympic sport, a lot of road and track runners who are a little bit more, um I guess, a bit better than us would move into trail running. And it doesn't take that long to become familiar, like comfortable on the trails. I feel like most runners could, you know, make that transition within six months or 12 months. um So I think that the competition for spots will be pretty high where a lot of
00:46:55
Speaker
if you didn't make it on the 5k track you might think all right well I have two years I could try and make it to the trail team um and those obviously they have some big engines and a lot of speed that you know currently we don't have so I think yeah eight years away might be a pass out time and it would definitely become a lot a lot more competitive and I hope it makes it to Brisbane because if it does make it to Brisbane I know that I'll definitely travel to to watch the event and it would definitely yeah kind of create a bit more of a want to travel towards an event like that and just even experience the first trail running being part of the Olympics for the first time. That would be really, really cool. I think we should put it on our Instagram. Maybe we'll put it on the poll when we push this episode up, what people think should trail running be in the Olympics. Yes or no? I am happy to see that Brisbane is pushing it. I know there's a lot of people behind it, so hopefully it will happen.
00:47:54
Speaker
Yeah. I should start my coaching business to transition roadrunners to trail runs. I think I'll one. I'll become an expert. I'll just retire from running and just coach. Okay. Yeah. Well, that was an interesting discussion. And yeah, that's a good idea. We'll pop up a poll because I think, yeah, it'd be interesting to see what others think as well. Yeah, because i think I think like, you know, yeah, sorry, coming back to that, I think a lot of people are not that happy about it. And, and I think that there was there were just, I think from from their side of things, I think that they see that the sport might lose the pureness and the simplicity of it and all that, which I also understand as well. You know, I started trail running when um it was still very small and grassroots kind of events or events. So, yeah.
00:48:40
Speaker
Well, we'll put up that poll and see what what most of our listeners think. Yeah. Yeah. All right. Well, we'll move on to um I've got a little trail fail this week, actually. um So we I've been traveling around and I just flew to Bulgaria and I lost my bag. um ah Well, I didn't lose it. The airline lost it. um So I turned up ah to start a six day trail running tour and I've packed all of my trail running gear into my checked in luggage. um Or I didn't at least think about what I was packing into checked versus carry on. So I ended up with ah shoes, which was lucky. um And one pair of shorts, one pair of ah one shirt um and that's about all so yeah that was a ah good lesson I'm not sure how much I would have been able to fit in more but maybe it's a good idea to ah pack in some of the more essential items
00:49:42
Speaker
Um, but yeah, not a, it was easily fixed with a quick stop at decathlon. So it wasn't a complete disaster, but now I'm, I'm trying to, um, my bag is, is still on its way. Um, but it it's been found, um, and I will get it at the end of the tour. So I've got another few days of running and I'm washing my, washing my clothes in the sink at the end of each day to have them ready for the next day. So yeah, that's fun. Have you guys lost a bag before? je as i happened to you No, I've never lost a bag on a flight before, which I'm very glad about. But I'm someone that's so anxious about that happening that like when I traveled to World Champs last year, I put um all of like my shoes and uniform and everything in my carry-on. So so smart. I wish I'd done that. I'm going to be doing it now. From now on, I'm going to be a bit more strategic, I think.
00:50:33
Speaker
I think it's pretty common for runners for runners yeah for runners to travel with all the kit, at least the racing kit in the um and their hand luggage. I go further, i just wear I just wear my running kit to the flight, that way there's no way I'm going to lose it. i um I've never actually lost a bag, but i've I've seen it happen to so many people, so I should i should know. And like plenty of runners that I've known like turn up without and their their stuff hasn't turned up. and I've heard so many times happen so I should be smarter and it sounds like Jess is has got the right idea.
00:51:07
Speaker
I think um probably one of the famous times that happened was in the Golden Trails series in the finals. So um probably Sam would have been a good person to tell us this dirtdy story, but Ally Mack from the US arrived and a bag didn't arrive. So she ran just holding a big mobile phone and ah had to borrow some shoes and stuff from other runners. i'd say I think it's pretty common, especially when you fly to like, you know, a bit of away from the common kind of destinations. It's a little bit more common. Even though it happened to me going to Mount Fuji for um the Mount Fuji Ultra Marathon, this was eighty years nine ah ninety eighty years eight nine, ten years ago, when me and my wife
00:51:55
Speaker
put our luggage in together, hers arrived, mine didn't. And I had most of my racing stuff in there, but luckily I arrived the next day. um So it was all good for the race. Yeah, nice. That's good. Well, everyone should be like Jess and pack their race stuff in there and they carry on. Nice one. Okay, cool. All right. Well, we've got a few results from this week to go through. There was a few races internationally, Vlad obviously racing, um but yeah, we're not going to go into too much detail because it it takes a long time to go through all those races, but you can go check out. um
00:52:31
Speaker
those results for the EIGA one on the UTMB website and have a look there and see some of the photos. um We'll cover a couple of the domestic races. So the big one probably from this weekend was the Guzzler. which is up in Queensland, speaking of Brisbane, quite close to Brisbane on sort of similar trails maybe then, and I think maybe some crossover from the Brisbane Trail Ultra last week. But I did say they advertise that it's 99% on trail. So it sounds like it's all trail for the races. um They have a few different distances.
00:53:10
Speaker
Um, sorry, I'm just scrolling down to this year's results. So they had, uh, firstly in the hundred K, um, we had in the women's Holly Ranson in first in 1217, Rebecca Godin second 1253 and Christie Laurie in 1501 and then. In the men, we had George Murray from New Zealand, I think he lives in Queensland though, and 1037, Brett Batchelor in 1202, and Ben Cobra, I've said that wrong, probably 1216. So he was a minute ahead of Holly Ranson, so Holly nearly got the top three overall. um Then in the 50K,
00:53:57
Speaker
I think I saw some footage of this as a bit of a showdown in the men, but it looks like between Matt Crean and Ben Doofus, but it looks like Ben might have had to pull the pin because Matt Crean got the win in 4.40. David Russell came second in 4.59 and Anthony Gordon in third in 5.10. And then in the females, first was Sarah Parkins in 525, second was Kristin Handrek in 554, and third was Jessica Schlutter in 559-59. That's a nice time. um I think they also had
00:54:37
Speaker
A 21K as well, so just go through that one quickly. ah So in the women, first place, Ashley O'Loughlin in 152. Second was Laura Daly in 207. Third was Courtney Pinuto in 208, so pretty close. And I think fourth looks like 209, so close at the end. there for the ladies, and then in the men, first was Andrew Day in 132, 54, which seems pretty quick for a 21K, Ben Chambers in 135, and Digby Simpson in 142. So, there's some results from the guzzle. Have you guys seen, heard of that race before? Yeah, I mean, I've heard that, um I know that Ben Doofus does it quite often, but um not too much outside of that.
00:55:30
Speaker
ah Yeah, I've heard of it but not um done it myself. Looks like a good race. like Those trails around Brisbane are really quite fun so um and it looks like it takes in a lot of them. It'd be a cool one to maybe look at in the future. It looks like Matt Green specifically flew up for it. He would be choosing between many races, I guess, so he's specifically chosen it. Is it on the same trails as the Brisbane Trail Ultra? Similar, I think. Like, I don't know exactly where it is, but it's in that sort of area. Maybe on some more of the trails, it's the longer Brisbane Trail Ultra courses cover. So a bit further out from Brisbane, I guess, like a bit further west. um But um yeah, I don't know for sure. But I think that's that's the from looking at it in the past, people's Strava's. I think it's so it's close to Brisbane, definitely. But um
00:56:24
Speaker
um maybe a bit further out than the Brisbane Trail Ultra. But similar similar types of trail, which are, yeah, they're really nice. They're steep and hard and um fairly runnable in places, but can be little bits of technical. So yeah, I'm sure it's a good race. Yeah, nice. And there was a race over in WA, is that right? The Yabooroo Trail Ultra, Jess? Yeah, so um that was one of the races on the WA Ultra series, um which I haven't done any of those ones yet, but they look pretty cool. um This one was out on sort of like a track that runs in the northern
00:57:01
Speaker
sort of coastal suburbs, so I think it's a bit sandy. um Not too healy, though. There was a 50k and a 25k, and I think the 25k had about 400 meters of elevation gain. The 50k was like double that, so maybe 800. There was also like a 10k and a 5k distance as well. um But we'll just cover the 50k and the 25. So in the 50k, in the men, ah in first place we had Craig Llewellyn in 4 hours 25. And then we actually had Petra Girigin, who was the first female, but she was also second overall, not too far behind in 4 hours 33.
00:57:48
Speaker
Well done to her. She's a regular at the Perth Trail Series um that I'm doing, so I'm running a run against her um most weeks, so she seems to get out for every race, so she's mis-consistency. Then ah third place overall and second male was Nicholas Albrooke in 4 hours 39. um Fourth place overall and second female was Tessa Fanny in 4 hours 53. And then third male was Chris Mockford in 5 hours 04. And third female was Tej Morali in 5 hours 29.
00:58:31
Speaker
ah So that's 50k and then in the 25. So first place in the men was Josh Tai in one hour 48 and he also won the marks ultra earlier in the year. Um, and then second male was Chris Gianci in one hour 58. Um, and third was Ben Dancy in two hours or two. Um, and first in the women in the 25K was Katie Richards in two hours 10. Um, she's a member of the She-Wolves. So shout out to her. Um, and second place was Lauren O'Brien in two hours 15. Um, and third was Anz Vakayman in two hours 17.
00:59:16
Speaker
Yeah, so then I think we also had the Boyne Valley 50k on and the weekend, Brady. Yeah, so that Boyne Valley 50k, I was just looking, it was up in sort of mid Queensland, um near Bundaberg Gladstone area. um It's on a rail trail, it looks like. So yeah, that's that's an interesting interesting spot. um But yeah, it was ah ah I've lost the results now. Geez, I'm doing well here. Did have them. All right, I'm back in a second. Sorry, everyone. Oh, there they are. Sim's going to do some nice editing here. Sorry, Sim. All right. Yes, I've got the results here. um So yeah, it was pretty quick and I think
01:00:01
Speaker
I'm not sure what the elevation profile or anything like that was, but maybe it's because it was on the rail trail. um But interestingly, ah we had first place in the men was Cam Monroe in 402. Second place was Riley Taylor in 4 hours 15. But then third place overall and first female was Zoe Manning in 4 hours 16. So she was not too far behind and that's a really quick time for a 50K. quite an impressive time and you can see the ages here in the results and she's 22. So yeah, quite an impressive run. I've never heard of Zoe, but it sounds like she's...
01:00:41
Speaker
Might be a handy runner. um Go through the rest of the results. The third male was Brock Roth in four hours 30. And in the women, Zoe was first. Second was Helen Rolfe in four hours 27. And third was Charmaine Thompson in four hours 56. And both ah Helen and Charmaine are over 50. So good on them. That's pretty quick times for them as well. Speedy race. And I think that wraps us up for results for the week. um Coming up next week, we've got, there's lots of races across the country, so I'm not going to yell them all out, but um we were discussing offline where we go to find races. And I look on the trail running calendar Australia and it's got all the the races for the coming weekend. So if you're interested to see what's coming up, there's ah pretty much a race in every state, a fair few up in
01:01:37
Speaker
the Northern States, I guess it's a good time of year for racing up there. um What have you guys got coming up in next week? Chess, what have you got on? I am going to be watching the Olympics, which is the opening ceremony is on Saturday, um and just yeah getting around the Olympics at work. Everyone's super excited about it, um ah which is pretty fun. like We've got some events on where we um, have like morning teas and stuff. So works pretty chill at the moment, which is nice. Um, I'll get another sort of big week of training in, and then I've got the last Perth Trail series, uh, the following week. So, um, yeah. Imagine your work will be buzzing around the time of Olympics. Like there'd be everyone's super excited, like directly related to Olympic sports. So I imagine it's super exciting time at work.
01:02:30
Speaker
Yeah, it's pretty much like the pinnacle of what we do, so um everyone kind of just chills out and enjoys enjoys watching the event and all the athletes, um yeah, achieving their goals. Is there like pressure? Because obviously you're funded by results, right? ah Yeah, I think, um, yeah, there's definitely like a lot of pressure. Like, um, I think, yeah, I wouldn't, I mean, Nina Kennedy at the moment, like she must be feeling the pressure pretty hard. Like she's got pretty much the whole state behind her. And, um, I mean, she's looking pretty good for the gold if she can continue that sort of diamond league form. So, I mean, yeah, sorry to talk about pole vault on a trail running podcast, but it's pretty exciting.
01:03:18
Speaker
I was about to ask you, who are you most excited to watch or who do you yeah who do you think would do the best? is that Is that Nina that's on the top of the list to watch or? ah It's got to be Jess. It's got to be Jess how now? like yeah ale i mean I mean, I just love like, obviously I just love the middle distance events um coming from like a track background. and I haven't seen anyone like as good as Jess Hall on the track in my lifetime. So from Australia, that is. um So yeah, I'm really excited to watch her. What about you guys? Breakdancing. I'm excited to watch her breakdancing.
01:03:54
Speaker
and Yeah, i've got I think ah watching yeah Jess Hall would have to be top of yeah top of the list. It's super exciting to have like ah quite a legitimate medal chance. like I think there's been in the past there's been some like outside chances at medals, but I'm not sure Jess doesn't listen to this podcast. I don't want to put the pressure on, but she's, she's probably a good chance for a good chance for a medal. Like obviously it's anything can happen in those middle distance races, but yeah, it's going to be cool to watch. Yeah, for sure. but glad you got a fixx yeah I was going to say outside of the real world of of yeah literally doing races for two bags of pasta. I'll be doing another race. It's actually in Austria, so it's right on the border of Germany and Austria, the Weisler Trail, which is going to be a 15k with a thousand meters of gain. so
01:04:47
Speaker
Um, should be a fairly quick one and a fun one where you pretty much stay on threshold the whole time. So I'm looking forward to that. Yeah, it sounds fun. Good luck. Um, thank you and yeah, I'll be in Bulgaria again the next week. So I'm here for actually another two weeks. Uh, the tour has got another couple of days. We're actually having a rest day today, which is. I've done like 18 hours on my feet over the past three days. So I'm definitely feeling the like the intensity is not super high, but time on feet is definitely good training. um And then when the tour finishes, I'm hanging around because World University are in tiering champs is on and I'm coaching. So I'm here before that and then for that. so But I'm back in Bansko where that ah race we were talking about before,
01:05:33
Speaker
is the Pyrene Mountains. um So I'm looking forward to getting up into the mountains and taking in some awesome ridgeline. So yeah, it's going to be good. Good times. I'm excited. Sounds like an exciting weekend. I guess we've made it all the way till the end of the episode. Hopefully you guys enjoyed this one and we'll see you next week. Yeah, thanks. Thanks, guys. See you later. Thanks, guys. See you.